Sarah leaned her elbows
against the windowsill and plopped her chin into her open hands. She
sighed dramatically and stared out of the cabin’s window at the
dreary lake. Wind blasted across the dark grey surface, sending
small whitecaps cascading across its surface and into the muddy
shores. The single small, wooden canoe thrashed wildly amongst the
waves and crashed against the run-down dock that it was attached to
by a short rope.

Sarah groaned and
turned her attention to the thick forest that claustrophobically
crowded in on all sides of the small cabin. The trees bent and
twisted as the hard wind rushed through them. Drab, autumn colored
leaves flew wildly about the forest floor and got stuck in collective
heaps when the wind could no longer reach them. She heard another
branch break, one of the many she had heard during this storm, and
spied something dark rushing between the deep forest shadows. A
deer. Maybe a moose. Who cares.

“Why did I agree to
this again?” Sarah wondered out loud.

She had recently taken
to talking out loud to keep herself company.

“And why not?” she
protested to no one in particular. “No one else is going to
entertain me.”

Sarah stood up,
straightened her back, and put her hands on her hips. She spun from
the window in a huff and walked across the boring 70’s style rug
that covered the worn hardwood floors. She slumped into the outdated
tweed colored couch with a sigh and blew her long brown hair out of
her face with a quick puff. Sarah grabbed a nearby throw blanket,
tossed it over herself, and nestled into the couch to try to get
comfortable. She looked around lazily for something to entertain
herself with and spied a dingy old leather bound book that seemed
like it was tossed half hazardly under the nearby nightstand. Sarah,
slightly annoyed that she had to momentarily get back up, snagged the
tome and then laid back onto the musty couch.